The 1884 Maroons: A Quick Stop At Home

The St. Louis Unions arrived home from their long Eastern trip yesterday morning, and in the evening left for Kansas City.  Boyle, the Union's new left fielder, is of tall, athletic build, and while standing full 6 feet, weighs but 164 pounds.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 27, 1884


And, let's not forget, Handsome Henry was also very handsome.

The 1884 Maroons: Henry Really Was Handsome

Hodnett, of the St. Louis Unions, arrived home yesterday.  He says Pudge Boyle, who has taken Billy Taylor's place, is the best looking man on the team and that, while he is of rather slim build and stands 6 feet high, he weighs no less than 174 pounds.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 12, 1884

The 1884 Maroons: Handsome Henry Makes His Debut

The St. Louis Club easily defeated the Baltimore Unions here to-day by a score of eight to two.  Dorsey, late of the Trenton Club, pitched for the home team, but was batted out of position in the third inning and Robinson took his place.  Boyle, late of the Actives, of Reading, Pa., made his appearance with the St. Louis, and was quite a success.  The game was not very interesting, and was only relieved of being termed poor playing by some fine field work.  Whitehead and Dunlap carried off the honors in this respect.  Boyle did the heaviest batting for the visiting club.  The St. Louis boys demonstrated their superiority over the home club at every point in the game.  The attendance was 1,000.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 10, 1884

The 1884 Maroons: Taylor Jumps The Club (Again)

Handsome Henry Boyle

"Billee" Taylor has finally jumped the St. Louis Unions.  On his first jump he received $300 from Lew Simmons, of the Athletics, but, instead of joining the latter organization, spent the money and went back to the Unions.  He then asked Mr. Lucas to send Simmons $500, which he claimed to have received.  His request was not complied with, Mr. Lucas having satisfied himself that Taylor received but $300 and was trying to work him out of $200, declined to send a cent to Simmons.  Taylor urged that the $500 be remitted until he found that the scheme would not succeed, and then went to Simmons and squared matters by signing with the Athletics.  His place on the nine has been filled by the engagement of "Pudge" Boyle, formerly of the Actives, of Reading, Pa., who is reported to be a fine pitcher and strong batsman.  In yesterday's game at Baltimore he held the Baltimore Unions down to four hits.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 10, 1884


Check back tomorrow for the box score and game account of Handsome Henry's first game with the Maroons.

As to Bollicky Bill Taylor, the guy certainly had some nerve.  I'm not sure what to make of him as a player.  I can't decide if he was undervalued and underused most of his career (with his "personality" contributing to  that) or if his career numbers are inflated because of his 1884 season.  The guy looks like a homeless man's version of Bob Caruthers but eighty percent of his career value comes from 1884, when he went 43-16 and had 2.4 oWAR.  His age 27-29 seasons are interesting enough to wonder what his career could have looked like had he gotten more playing time but, after 1884, the guy only got into 17 more major league games.  And I think the Globe did a fair job of explaining why Taylor didn't get too many more chances in the majors.          

The Perfect Story

"You may talk about Chris Von der Ahe's explosions of dialect. Chris did himself proud one Sunday, eleven years ago," says Ted Sullivan. "I was managing Henry Lucas' Union Maroons in St. Louis, and Jimmy Williams managed the Browns. Our team was scheduled for a game with the Chicago Unions, and the Browns and Brooklyns were the counter attractions scheduled to play at Chris' park. We advertised the game extensively in the Sunday papers. Both sides were fighting each other-the Association and Union-and we were hustling for a Sunday crowd.

"I met Chris at noon on Sunday standing in front of his office, with an umbrella over his head. It was raining in sheets and buckets.

"'Are der Maroons and Chicago's going to play, Ted?' he asked.

"'Not much. Our grounds are afloat Chris.'

"'Neder are der Browns. It's too vet, Ted,' said Chris, and he began to toss bad words at the weather.

"I went over to our park and engaged a crowd of men and boys to unload sawdust all over the field.

"The rain held up, and at 3 o'clock our grounds were dry enough for a game.

"I sent Fred Dunlap, captain of the Maroons, over to Chris' office, instructing him to tell Chris that the Maroons wouldn't play-that the grounds were too wet.

"About an hour later the sky cleared and the crowd poured into our grand stand and bleachers. It wasn't till our game was half over that Chris discovered the job we had put up on him. After the game he was tackled by scores of his friends.

"'Great game over at Henry Lucas' park, Chris. Over 8,000 paid admissions,' said Fred Dunlap.

"'That was an awful job Ted Sullivan put up on you," said Henry Boyle.

"'My Gott, vot you tink of dot. Ted to giff me an inshoot like dot. He vos a foxy Irishman. Eight tousant paid admissions. Vot you tink?'

"And Chris drowned his troubles in cocktails."

-The Washington Post, December 30, 1895


Will I ever find a more perfect story to post than this? Seriously, we have one of Sullivan's Von der Ahe-as-buffoon stories and a mention of Fred Dunlap. This story gives me an excuse to go off on two of my favorite rants. I could do paragraphs here about the need to rehabilitate the reputations of VdA and Dunlap. I could do a week-long, multi-part series based on nothing more than this story. Good God, talk about coming right into my wheel-house.

Of course, I'm going to spare you the beating the dead horse rants and just ask that you appreciate the sublime perfection of this story.

The Maroons Visit Little Rock

After the Maroons finished the city series with the Browns in October of 1886, the team traveled to Arkansas in early November for a series against the Little Rock club. It was a hodge-podge group of players that made the trip. Jack Glasscock, who ran the team after manager Gus Schmelz was fired in October, did not travel with the team. The only regulars who went to Little Rock were Emmett Seery, John Healy, and Joe Quinn. Henry Boyle (the team's third pitcher) and Joe Murphy (a nineteen year old pitcher who had appeared in four games) also made the trip.

This motley group of Maroons had their hands full with the Little Rock nine. In the first game, played on November 2, the Little Rocks got two runs in the ninth to upset the visitors by a score of 3-2. The next day, the Maroons jumped out to a 5-1 lead and won 5-2. On November 5, the series concluded as the Maroons were able to hold on for a 3-2 victory.

As far as I can tell, these were the last games ever played by the St. Louis Maroons.

And The Maroons Are No More

The agony is over. The National League has met and to-day Indianapolis is a member of that body. Kansas City has been paid $6,000 for her club and franchise. The St. Louis League club has been paid $12,000 for her players and franchise and now all things are lovely. The clans gathered at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on Monday last...

The Indianapolis delegates offered the committee (of John Day, Nick Young, and Al Spalding who were meeting to select an eighth club for the NL) $12,000 for a franchise, and the League then offered the St. Louis club the same sum for its resignation. The St. Louis delegate (W.S. Stromberg) thought the amount too small, but said he would consider it and give an answer on Tuesday at the 10 o'clock session. On Tuesday morning as soon as the meeting was called to order Mr. Stromberg, on behalf of the St. Louis Maroons, accepted the offer of $12,000 made by the Indianapolis men, and arrangements were at once made to transfer the players. It was thought that his price would not suit the St. Louis men, and the delegates were somewhat surprised when, after the articles had been signed Mr. Stomberg remarked: "Why, I would have taken $6,000 for the players. I am perfectly satisfied...

The Maroons have sold their players, but still hold their franchise...

-From The Sporting News, March 12, 1887

A couple of notes:

-It appears that the death of the Maroons was not foreordained. Prior to accepting the League offer, the Maroons had been planning for the 1887 season. They had been fighting in League meetings for the right to play games on Sundays and a compromise had been reached were they would be able to play Sunday games against non-League teams. This was a big victory for the Maroons who were at a competitive disadvantage in St. Louis due to the ban on Sunday games (as well as because of the higher ticket prices they were forced to charge). The team had lost money in 1885 and most likely in 1886 as well (although the sale of Fred Dunlap to Detroit in 1886 probably had them close to breaking even). The team had been arguing for some time that it needed Sunday games and 25 cent ticket prices to compete against the Browns and it appears that the League was beginning to heed their call and offer some relief. In the end, the Maroons were offered a deal that they couldn't refuse. "I would have taken $6,000 for the players," Stromberg said after accepting twice that amount.

-The statement at the end of the article about the Maroons still holding their franchise is interesting. With the acceptance of the League offer, the Maroons were no longer part of the National League. However, at this time, Al Spink was involved in the reorganization of the Western League and The Sporting News was full of news about the WL and the possibilities of placing a team in St. Louis. In later issues of the paper, it was mentioned that the Maroons would likely join the WL. With the end of the St. Louis League club, Spink most likely saw an opportunity to place a WL team in the city under the Maroons name and have them play at the Union Grounds. In the end this never happened and Spink identifies Chris Von der Ahe as the reason. It's ironic that Von der Ahe blocked a St. Louis WL team in 1887 because of his involvement with the Whites the following season. It's unknown if Von der Ahe already had plans to place a "minor league" club in St. Louis or was inspired by Spink to do so. Either way, the city would be a part of the Western League in 1888.

-The transfer of the club's players was a little more complicated than it would appear. While nominally it was a simple transfer from St. Louis to Indianapolis (or Washington, in the case of Billy O'Brien), there were several issues that muddied the waters. The players themselves had some say in the matter. "During the progress of the meeting," The Sporting News wrote, "communication was received from (Jack) Glasscock, (Jerry) Denny, and (Henry) Boyle, who insisted that the Indianapolis club give them a guarantee that they shall receive their salary for one year before they will sign a contract. Indianapolis has a bad reputation among ballplayers. Mr. Newberger said that he did not propose to pay any of his men over $2,000. Glasscock got $3,000 last season, and there are reasons to believe that he, Denny, and Boyle would not sign for the amount stated." The Sporting News also reported a rumor "that the brotherhood of professional base-ball players would take some action in the matter if the demands of the men are not complied with." To further complicate matters, it appears that the League clubs were fighting among themselves for the rights to some of the Maroons. The services of Glasscock and Denny were specifically valued. Washington wanted Glasscock and other teams were making bids for the players that "went up as high as $16,000, but no one was able to secure their services as the league had given them to Indianapolis with the understanding that they must not be sold." Some of the players, while not assigned to League clubs, were "reserved by the league in case some of the other clubs (needed) their services." To top it off, Von der Ahe stepped in and offered $500 for Joe Quinn.